DAʿWAH. The Arabic term daʿwah (lit., "call, invitation, summoning") is used especially in the sense of the religious outreach or mission to exhort people to embrace Islam as the true religion. The Arabic root dʿw occurs frequently in the Qurʾān, where it can also mean calling upon God in prayer (as in duʿāʾ). The Qurʾān contains many imperatives to spread Islam, as in sūrah 16:125–126:

Call [udʿu] thou to the way of thy Lord with wisdom and good admonition, and dispute with them in the better way. Surely thy Lord knows very well those who have gone astray from his way, and he knows very well those who are guided. And if you chastise, chastise even as you have been chastised; and yet assuredly if you are patient, better it is for those patient. And be...